Long Awaited Day
by kellyhorse
Summary: It started out as any other normal day. Well, any other normal day for a half blood, that is. Specifically a half blood named Ashley. She had been at camp 3 years and yet unclaimed until that fateful day...


**All author's notes shall be at the bottom**

-=-=-=-=Chapter one-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-Chapter one-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-Chapter one=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

There was a dull _thunk_ as a girl's arrow hit the target.

"Again." Lee Fletcher told her.

"Oh come on, that one was good!" She complained.

The boy gave her a look. "I told you, you're not quitting until you get it in the yellow."

"But-"

"Lauren. I've seen you get a bull's-eye before, and I'm not even asking for that."

"_Demanding_" She muttered.

Lee ignored her, "Just in one of the yellows. If you would release it like I showed you, you could do it Ashley."

Reluctantly, she sighed and notched another arrow. She pulled back the bowstring making sure she did everything right as she aimed and finally let go. The arrow flew towards the target which wasn't too far away. Almost instantaneously the arrow traveled to it.

_Thwap_

It landed in the inner red ring. Close, but not quite. "I did it like you told me!" Ashley exclaimed, now frustrated.

Lee shook his head and stepped back towards her. "No," He explained, "Your feet."

Ashley looked down- they _were_ a bit off. She sighed though her nose and shifted to correct her position. She lifted up her bow again, determined to make it this time. She breathed slowly through every step until she was ready. She slowly exhaled, trying to keep the bow as still as possible and released the arrow.

There was a _thunk_ as it landed. "Yes!" Ashley cheered when she saw it landed in one of the two center rings.

"Good job." Lee congratulated. "Now get out of here. You're archery skills might start rubbing off on us." He chided jokingly, and with that he went off to aid another camper that Chiron hadn't gotten to helping yet.

"Thanks Fletcher!" She grabbed her stuff and called, running off down the trail that led back to the main parts of the camp. Ashley couldn't wait to get out of there. Archery was only fun if you have a lot of patience and time to practice, so predictably, she hated it. It wasn't as bad as some things like canoeing though, where you had to paddle a hundred strokes to move ten feet. Ashley ran back to her cabin, eager to join them for their next activity.

Later that day Ashley was hanging out in cabin eleven during their free time with the other Hermes kids and half-bloods that stayed there. She was sitting next to the wall with her arm on her knees, staring intently at her watch; Just a few more minutes until dinner.

"I'm starving!" The boy on the bed next to her complained.

"Well if you had come to lunch instead of sneaking off and snogging Katie you wouldn't be." A girl who was also on the floor said smugly as she shifted to face them. She was probably around fifteen or so. She had dark brown hair and was grinning at him with a sinister look.

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, shut up, Lauren. You're not even British, why are you saying 'snogging'?"

"Wait," Ashley interjected. "Who? I thought you were going out with Grace."

"No, she broke up with him like, two days ago." Lauren explained.

The boy glared at her. "_I_ broke up with _her_." He growled.

Lauren giggled. "Only because she started dating someone better and you found out."

Ashley watched pending argument intently. "Who?" She asked.

"He doesn't know." Lauren told her while looking at the boy sinisterly. She beckoned Ashley to come to her.

"You know?" She asked, scooting closer. Lauren cupped her hand to shield her words and Ashley leaned in towards her. She whispered something.

"No!" Ashley gasped and whipped around to look at the people on the other side of the cabin.

Lauren grabbed her shoulders and yanked her back around. They rapidly held a silent conversation, of which afterwards Ashley broke out into a crazy grin; the kind that only comes from knowing something important that someone else doesn't. Before anyone could say anything else though, a horn sounded in the distance.

Everybody in the cabin started getting up and moving towards the door but the boy spared a second to give them both a repulsed look, say, "Pathetic. You two are worse than the entire Aphrodite cabin." and then march away.

Dinner started out as a pain, as usual. Sure, it could be fun, but it was so crowded! Even before all of the cabins had arrived, the campers at the Hermes table were squirming or leaning over several people so they could talk to a specific person who, naturally, was the one farthest away from them. Someone jabbed Ashley in the side. She dropped her head onto the table and started complaining quietly, mostly to herself, but it wouldn't have bothered her one bit if someone heard about how miserable she was crammed in there.

"Having fun?" Asked Connor Stoll, who was sitting next to her.

She sat back up straight. "This is bull. I wish I was a kid of like, Zeus, or something. I could have all the table space in the world." Right then someone reached across the table snapped their fingers to get another's attention, pressing their arm up against Ashley with their hand in her face. She groaned and picked up her glass, "Give me a margarita." Ashley told it desperately. She didn't actually know what one was, but it was alcoholic, and older people drank them all the time so it must be 'helpful'. That much she knew. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened. She shook it. "Please!"

Connor grinned and gave a little snort at her pointless attempt. She scowled at him and turned back to the cup. "You suck." Ashley said stoutly. Connor wasn't sure if she was talking to him or the glass.

When the nymphs came with the food Ashley was anxious to take her share, bring it to the brazier, and take up as much room as she could back at the table. She started separating the food to offer the gods from her own- the juicy grapes from the small ones, the yummiest part of the meat from the less, a big, buttery roll. Ashley waited in the quickly moving line so she could have her turn at the brazier.

"To my father." She said, as always, and scraped the food into the fire.

As she started turning around and walking away someone called to her. "Ashley!" He said brightly. People around the brazier stopped what they were doing and started at something above her head. Within a couple seconds the whole pavilion was looking there too. Floating just above her was a caduceus. The symbol of Hermes.

A million things were going through Ashley's head as Chiron announced, "It is determined." like he had done with so many others. All of the kids standing up stared kneeling while most of the ones sitting just stared. "Hail, Ashley O'Connell, daughter of Hermes, messenger of the gods."

-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-I=Don't-Know=How-To=Make-Thoes=Magical-Lines=-=-=-=-=-=-

**Wow! So you made it through the whole chapter? Nice. So here's the thing- I started writing this with tons of ideas for future thing to come. Thing is, I don't know how to get my story to that, or how to fill in gaps between those future things. I shall brainstorm for a while, and maybe, just maybe, a new chapter shall be posted. (Probably will someday, just not soon) (My summary was originally my opening paragraph ^_^)**

**Thanks to my almost-beta. I wish I had used you!**

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Camp Half-blood, and everything in the PJO universe. If you don't recognize something, there is a large possibility I made it up.**

**Last thing: I know you've probably read it a thousand times at the bottom of stories, but here it is again: Please review!**


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